Before I start talking about how fast I read, I would like to make it very clear that I am talking about reading with sub-vocalisation, not speed-reading. In other words, when I read, I say the words in my head and follow the story.
I didn't learn to read until I was eight, but I took to it very quickly. I have a memory from when I was nine that still riles me; my class were split into reading groups, and each group was assigned a book. Another member of my group noticed that I was much further through than he was, and called a teacher over to tell her I was skipping pages. I was not skipping pages. The teacher believed him, and I never forgave her.
What's the point in skipping pages? If you're going to skip pages, just skip the whole thing, surely? How can reading every other page or every third page possibly seem like a good idea to anyone? I am baffled.
Anyway; when I was fifteen or so, I remember using Goosebumps books to get a rough idea of my reading speed. Those books are all a fairly standard length, and I found that it took me between 20-30 minutes to finish one, from cover to cover.
It's now almost ten years later, and I'm wondering whether I've improved or not. So I've decided to time myself reading 100 pages, and figure out the average. Since I have approximately 25 books to read to get my unread pile down to 150, I've decided that I'm going to time myself on 25 books I've not read previously, thus killing two birds with one stone.
I did actually do something similar to this two years ago. Then, I found that I averaged 30 minutes for 100 pages, that I was slower on books I'd read before, and that I was faster on children's books than adult books. That was out of a dataset of 10, so not much to go on.
There are some problems with this method, of course. I'm using all physical, paperback books, so they vary in page and font size. Also, the act of observation affects my speed. I tend to focus more, and don't start daydreaming or give in to distractions. In short, what we're really measuring is my average speed on 100 pages (with varying amounts of words on them) under observation. Which is a little different than my actual average speed. Still, it's interesting to me, and it helps me get through my unread pile quicker, so we'll give it a go.
I didn't learn to read until I was eight, but I took to it very quickly. I have a memory from when I was nine that still riles me; my class were split into reading groups, and each group was assigned a book. Another member of my group noticed that I was much further through than he was, and called a teacher over to tell her I was skipping pages. I was not skipping pages. The teacher believed him, and I never forgave her.
What's the point in skipping pages? If you're going to skip pages, just skip the whole thing, surely? How can reading every other page or every third page possibly seem like a good idea to anyone? I am baffled.
Anyway; when I was fifteen or so, I remember using Goosebumps books to get a rough idea of my reading speed. Those books are all a fairly standard length, and I found that it took me between 20-30 minutes to finish one, from cover to cover.
It's now almost ten years later, and I'm wondering whether I've improved or not. So I've decided to time myself reading 100 pages, and figure out the average. Since I have approximately 25 books to read to get my unread pile down to 150, I've decided that I'm going to time myself on 25 books I've not read previously, thus killing two birds with one stone.
I did actually do something similar to this two years ago. Then, I found that I averaged 30 minutes for 100 pages, that I was slower on books I'd read before, and that I was faster on children's books than adult books. That was out of a dataset of 10, so not much to go on.
There are some problems with this method, of course. I'm using all physical, paperback books, so they vary in page and font size. Also, the act of observation affects my speed. I tend to focus more, and don't start daydreaming or give in to distractions. In short, what we're really measuring is my average speed on 100 pages (with varying amounts of words on them) under observation. Which is a little different than my actual average speed. Still, it's interesting to me, and it helps me get through my unread pile quicker, so we'll give it a go.
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